Entrainment-controlling mechanism for auxiliary motors



Aug. 1, i928, y 1,679,719 f V B. HAsKELL: JR

ENTRINHENT CONTROLLIG MEGHANISH FOR AUXILIARY MOTORS Filed Aug. 26, 19262 Sheets-Sheet 1 i B. HASKELL. JR ETRINIENT CQHTBOLLING HECHANISH FORAUXILIARY MOTORS Filed Aug 26, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 O @QQ Patented Aug.7, 1928..

UNI-Tian'.l STATES PATENT ori-rcav BBODEBIGI HASKELL, JB., OF NEW YORK,N. Y., ASSIGNOR T FRANKLIN RAILWAY l SUPPLY COMPANY, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.,A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

. ENTBAINHENT-QONTBOLLING MECHANIS FOB AUXILIABY MOTORS;

Application led August 26, 1926. Serial N0. 131,559.

to what is now known in the art as a loco-f' motive booster and I havetherefore illustrated and described my invention in a preferredembodiment suitable for this type of apparatus.

As 1s now well known inthe art locomotive boosters are arranged to drivean axle with its wheels which may be located either on the locomotive oron the tender or, in

fact, upon any suitable railway vehicle which is normally propelled bysome other power. And, since boosters are not intended to operate at allspeeds but more especially at slow speeds or in starting, suitable meanshave been provided for entraining or con necting them to the axle whichthey drive as well as for disconnecting or disentraining them when theirauxiliary power is no longer required or desired. With the foregoing inmind the principal obect of my invention can'be statedas invo ving theprovision of means for insuring easy entrainment of the booster motorWithout the danger of injuring the entrainment mechanism as well as theprovision of means for preventing an unintentional or untimely effort toeifect entrainment.

Stated more specifically in its direct relation to the booster art myinvention involves the rovision of means for insuring proper syncronization of the speeds of the idler gear and of the axle gear prior toan entraining operation. e

All of the foregoing, however, will be` better understood from thefollowing description lof the accompanying drawings, `wherein Fig. 1 isa dia-grammatical layout of my invention as applied to a locomotivebooster motor and Fig. 2 is a partial half-plan of a booster motorshowing various parts of m im roved apparatus diagrammatlcally apphed tereto. Referring to the drawings 1t will be seen 55 that the booster isa small twin cylinder steam engine the cylinders 1 of which are arrangedto drive 4the booster crank shaft 2 upon which is fixed a driving pinion3. The axle 4 to which the booster is to be connected is provided with alarge gear 5 which is arranged in the path of movement of the idler gear6. The idler gear is mounted uponv a rocking member 7 and is always inmesh with the driving pinion 3. The rocking member 7 can be swung on itspivot 8 so that gear 6 can be moved into engagement with the axle gear5. The booster crank shaft 2 is provided at each end with a'crank 9carrying a crank pin 10 over which is secured the usual connecting rod11.

When the idler gear 6 is moved to the right so as to engage the axlegear 5 and steam is supplied thru the conduit 12, the power of thebooster cylinders 1`wil1 be utilized to aid in the propulsion of theve'- hicle by virtue of the fact that the power 4developed by thebooster is being applied to the axle 4.

Entrainment or connection to the axle 4 is effected by means of thesmall entraining motor comprehensively indicated at 13. I prefer to usea fluid actuated motor and itl comprises in general a piston 14 mountedin a 'bushing Within the cylinder 15. Fluid pressure is delivered to thelower side of the piston 14 thru the conduit 16 and duct 17. When thepiston 14 has been raised sufficiently to mesh the idler gear 6 with theaxle gear 5 the fluid pressure will then be by-passed thru lthe duct 18and conduit 19 to the booster throttle operating cylinder 20 containingthe piston 21. This pressure will then depress the iston 21 and open thebooster throttle va ve 22 in a manner now well understood in this art sothat the steam entering in the direct-ion of the arrow thru pipe 12 canpass downwardly to the booster cylinders 1. The globe valve 23 isnormally in `o en position and is manually actuated to c ose the conduit12 only in case of ac- 100 cident or repair. The details of the entrain.ing motor 13 and the booster throttle open-v ing mechanism justdescribed form no partof the present invention but are referred to inorder that the application/of my invention may be better understood. Itwill be seen from the foregoing that entrainment of the booster isintended to take place prior to the time that the booster becomes aneffective driving power. Ilo

Fluid pressure, preferably; air, is conducted to the pipe 16 thru theconduit '24 leading from an airreservoir', said pipe 24 being under theusual control of the reverse lever pilot valve which will be open toconnect pipe 24 to pipe 16 when the plunger 26 is depressed in order toseat the valve 27 and unseat the valve 28. f

'Before the operating luid can reach the booster entrainlng motor 13 Iprovide the additional controlling mechanism now to be described. In thepipe or conduit 16 which constitutes the means for supplying the motor'13 with motive power, I place a rotary controlling valve 29 having astraight passage 30 therethrough which is adapted to be brought intoalignment with the ad-` jacent ends of the pipe 16. Oppositely cX-tending levers or arms 31 are connected to the valve body 29 thru themediumlof which the lattercan`be rotated so as to. bring the passage 30out of alignment with the ends 5 of the pipe 16. One arm 31 is moved bya piston 32 and theother arm 31 by a piston 33. These pistons arenormally held in their VYcylinders 34 and 35 by means of the springs 36and 37 in such positions as will,`

bring the passage 30 of the valve 29 into straight line communicationwith the ends of the pipe 16 as shown in the `figures. The pistons canbe moved by circulating beneath them a'llui-d under pressure and if thisbe done it will be apparent that the pressure beneath eachcylinder willhave to be substantially the same as the pressure in the other in orderto establish communication to the pipe 16. I arrange to circulate such afluid in the following manner.

A screw or other suitable type of rotary pump 38 is driven by the axle 4and a similar 'pump 39 is driven by the booster crank sha 2. The pump 38is directly driven by the axle 4 and in order to have the direction ofrotation and the speed of rotation of the pump 39 the same as that ofthe pump 38,

Iarrange to have itdriven by means of the internal and external gears 40and 41,.the latter of which is mounted upon the return crank 42 so thatits axis will align with the axis of the booster crank shaft 2. The gear41 belngiixed to the return crank 42 it will naturally rotate with thecrank shaft 2 and Both um s draw from the fluid reserv voir 42 t ru t econduit 43 and branch pipes 44 and 45. The fluid delivered by the pumpsis conducted thru the pipes 46 and 47 to the cylinders 34 and 35respectively, such pipes entering the cylinders near the bottom, wellbelow the pistons 32 and133..

The cylinders have outlet pipes 48 and 49 opposite the pipes 47 and 46which dis- 'internal gear charge back into the reservoir 42.. There isa` Venturi restriction 50 in each discharge pipe by means of which theproper .pressure can be built up beneath the pistons 32` `26 isdepressed airwill immediately flow to the entraining piston 14 and causeen- '80 trainment of the booster in the 'manner already described.However should 4the railway vehicle be running at a slow rate ofspeedw'hile theboosteris idle the pump 38 will develop a' pressure belowthe piston 33 which will raise the right-hand arm 31v and lower ltheleft-hand arm and at the same time move the passage 30 sothat it willnot establish communication with .the pipe 16.r By means of a supply ofidling steam which is not illustratedin this disclosure since it formsno part of my invention the boost-er can be rotated or operated and justas soon as its speed corresponds to the speed of the axle 4 the pump 39will develop a pressure which is substantially equivalent to thepressure developed by the pump 38 and consequently the piston 32 willvlikewise be raised to balance or offset the previous movement ofthepiston 33. This will bring the passage 30 into alignment with the endsof the conduit 16. Just as soon as this happens the air will bedelivered to the entraining motor 13 and entrainment of the booster willtake place without clashing of the gears orother mechanism which mightbe used to entrain the-parts. As already described the sequence ofvoperations will then open the throttle 22 so that full operatingpressure for driving the boosterfwill be delivered to the 1.

It vu he seen from foregoing that I have pll'ded means for preventingany attempt to mesh the booster gears except when their speedssubstantially correspond. Furthermore the device can be so set that theengineer cannot out in the booster when the vehicle is travelling atunusually high speeds 'at which speeds the booster is' not deslgned foruse. In this connection I provide the cylinder 35 with a relief valve 51so as to relieve the piston 33 of excessive pressure when the railwayvehicle is travelling at a high rate of speed. At speeds within whichthe booster is intended to operate this relief valve 51 performs nofunction.

My invention also prevents the booster from being thrown into gear whileit is being idled in order. to clear it `oi. condensation. Furthermorein case of any damage within the booster which would prevent its invanoaxle, e booster, entrainingz mechanism for axle and booster, a motor foractuating said entraining mechanism, and means for preventing operationof said motor prior to synchronisation of the speeds of booster andaxle.

2., Mechanism for entraining' an auxiliary motor with a moving vehicleaxle comprising in combination, a gear xed to the axle, a shiltable geardriven by the motor, fluid pressure 'actuated means for shifting saidgear, a valve for the fluid supply, and means for opening said valvewhen the speed of v the motor and thatvof the axle substantiallycorrespond.

The combinatibn of a railway vehicle axle, a locomotive booster motor,means for entraining the motor with the axle, a pump actuated by theaxle, a second pump actu ated by the motor, and means controlled by saidpumps for preventing entrainment until the speed of the motor and thatolthe axle substantially correspond.

d. The combination of a railway vehicle axle, a booster, a fluidactuated motor for entraining the booster with said axle, a valve forthe duid supply, and operating means Jlor said valve which is' under thecombined control of the booster and the axle, said operating meansfunctioning to secure entrainment when the booster speed and the axlespeed substantially correspond.

I 5. Controlling apparatus for the entraining mechanism of a railwayvehicle booster motor comprising in combination, a pum actuated by thevrailway vehicle, a secon pump actuated by the booster, and means underthe combined influence of both of said pumps for securingY entrainmentwhen the vehicle speed and t booster speed substantially correspond.

6. Apparatus lor entraining a booster With a moving vehicle axlecomprising in com'- bination, a gear on the axle, a shiftable `geardriven by the booster, a. motor device for shifting said gear and meansfor initiatingthe operation of said motor device when the speed of thebooster and that of the axle sub-v stantially correspond.,

7. Apparatus for entraining a booster with a moving vehicle axlecomprisin" in combination, a gear on the axle, a shiltable gear drivenby the booster, a luid pressure motor for shitting said gear, a valve'for controlling' the supply oilv luid thereto, a. pump driven by saidaxle, a second pump driven by said booster, a duid reservoir, a cylinderand piston construction for moving said valve rin one direction, asecond cylinder and piston construction for moving said valve in theopposite direction, means 'for connecting said pumps to the reservoir,means connecting said cylinders to the reservoir, means for connectingone of said pumps to one of said cylinders, and means for connecting theother pump to the other cylinder.

8. Apparatus for entraining a booster with a railway vehicle axlecomprising in comsu bination, entraining mechanlsm including a motor forits operation, means for supplying said motor with motive power, and acontrolling means for said motive power supply means,said controllingmeans including a booster actuated member, an axle actuated member, anda third member forming a part ofthe motive power supply means andoppositely acted upon by said lirst two members, said last memberfunctioningv to out olf such supply except upon a substantial balance ofthe eilects of said first two members.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name. f"

' BRODERICK HASKELL, JR.

